ROM Biodiversity Month

-First New ROM Centre for Discovery Brings Programs that Help Us to Better Understand Life on Earth

Toronto, ON – - Biodiversity Month at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) presents a unique opportunity for everyone to learn more about our natural world. Throughout the entire month of April, visitors of all ages are encouraged to take an active role in conversations and experiences, both online and onsite at the ROM. Interactive workshops, panels, family programming, and up close opportunities with prominent biodiversity experts, including ROM curatorial and research staff as well as renowned national and international guest speakers, will be featured.

The ROM will host the first Ontario Endangered Species Act Conference, featuring new Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable David Orazetti, and a ROM Biodiversity Family weekend, which includes the specially ticketed Earth Month Youth Forum, featuring Dr. Roberta Bondar, Sebastião Salgado and Simon Jackson.

“I look forward to sharing ROM Biodiversity research, global discoveries and renowned expertise with our visitors both onsite and online throughout the entire month of April,” said Dave Ireland, Managing Director, ROM Biodiversity. “As the ROM’s first Centre of Discovery to go live, we look forward to this focus on Biodiversity Month to help ROM visitors and partners better understand and protect the natural world around them.”

“Hang Out” with a ROM Curator

Ever wished you could have a conversation with a ROM curator or researcher? April is your opportunity. The month kicks-off with a series of ROM Biodiversity Month Google Hang-outs. Log in live and engage with ROM experts as they answer your questions and share the latest research developments in their respective areas, deliver updates directly from the field, and share an insider’s view of the most important recent and historical discoveries pertaining to the biodiversity of life on earth. Dave Ireland, ROM Biodiversity Managing Director, will lead the inaugural Hangout on Tuesday, April 2, followed by a diverse series of ROM Natural History curators and researchers. The series closes with Dr. Mark Engstrom, ROM Senior Curator and Deputy Director, Collections & Research, on Tuesday, April 30. The ROM is the first Canadian museum to participate in ongoing Google Hang-outs. Speakers and themes may change each session, visit rom.on.ca/nature for complete listings.

Family Programs

NEW - Earth Rangers Great Lakes Show

Saturday April 6, 13 and 20, 10:30 am to 2:30 pm

Join us inside the Earth Ranger Studio to learn about one of Canada’s most beautiful natural wonders: the Great Lakes. A focal story of this professional and engaging show is about the Bald Eagle, an animal that almost went extinct in the Great Lakes but has made a remarkable recovery. Come meet Finnigan or Koho, live Bald Eagles, and learn how you can make a difference.

Meet the Aquarium Expert

Sundays in April, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm,

Meet the person responsible for keeping the ROM’s fish happy and healthy each week at the ROM’s Schad Gallery of Biodiversity.

The Great Lakes Shows and Aquarium Meets are included with general admission, no registration required.

April 27th/28th – ROM Biodiversity Family Weekend

The whole family will enjoy this environmental tradeshow-style event with live animal displays and 10 of Ontario’s top environmental education organizations.

Biodiversity Family Weekend activities are included with general Museum admission: adults, $15; students and seniors with ID, $13.50; children (4 to 14 years), $ 12; children 3 and under are free. To book a group of 10 or more, and for more information on private guided tours or group menus, please call ROM Group Sales at 416.586.5889 or email

The ROM and Earth Day Canada’s EcoMentors Program join forces with 250 environmental youth leaders and educators from across Ontario for an exciting, interactive evening of workshops at the ROM. Featuring Canadian Astronaut and nature photographer Roberta Bondar, the first female neurologist in space, and award-winning photographer Sebastião Salgado, whose exhibition Sebastião Salgado: GENESIS opens at the ROM on May 4, 2013, as part of the CONTACT Photography Festival. The forum will be hosted by Simon Jackson, Founder and Director of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition.

For more information on the 2013 Earth Month Youth Forum, please visit:

Join Deborah Metsger, Assistant ROM Curator, Botany, as she leads Trees for Toronto goes mobile, where guests can identify and learn about over 75 species right from your smart phone or PC. Included with ROM admission

ROM Café

April 24, 7:00- 8:30 pm, Duke of York Pub

39 Prince Arthur Ave. 2nd Floor

Wind down your day with an evening with Mark Peck, ROM Ornithology, who will discuss urban bird initiatives and Brazilian field work on Red-knots. This is a free drop-in event, excludes cost of food & beverage.

The ROM will open it’s doors to this first ever two day meeting with leading biodiversity sector experts including policy makers, scientists, farmers, students and consultants, as they discuss proposed amendments to the revolutionary Endangered Species Act 2007. Speakers include Janet Carding, ROM Director and CEO, the Honourable David Orazetti, Minister of Natural Resources, Gord Miller, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, and Karen Clark-Whistler, Chief Environment Officer, TD Financial Group. The meeting is meant to be a safe place for difficult conversations, where all stakeholders will feel free to participate in the policy-making process. More information on the ESA Conference can be found here:

If you can not attend the ESA Conference, which is meant for dedicated stakeholders, then join us for a public discussion between the two dominant stakeholders, moderated by ROM Biodiversity Managing Director Dave Ireland, April 7 in the Eaton Theatre (7pm, free but registration required: http://www.rom.on.ca/en/activities-programs/events-calendar/endangered-s...). Find out what the ESA means to you, and why you should care.

About ROM Centres of Discovery
The ROM’s encyclopedic scope can be overwhelming. To increase access to its vast collections and curatorial expertise, it now has eight areas of focus – Ancient Cultures, Biodiversity, Canada, Contemporary Culture, Earth & Space, Fossils & Evolution, Textiles & Fashions and World Art & Culture. Each Centre of Discovery subject area is designed to help people better understand the Museum’s scope and to connect with the vibrant ROM communities most relevant to them.

The first to fully activate is ROM Biodiversity in April, with a planned phased introduction to fully launch each centre.

About Life in Crisis: Schad Gallery of Biodiversity
Introducing all audiences to key aspects of life on earth, the Schad Gallery of Biodiversity is an interactive space that explores our world’s biodiversity and the many factors affecting its conservation and survival. This gallery showcases 2,500 specimens including a colourful aquarium, home to live reef invertebrates and small fishes, and Bull, the famous White Rhino, one of the ROM’s Iconic Objects, who welcomes visitors entering the gallery’s Rotunda entrance.